“I was surprised. I think we were all expecting to see one very happy city to be the first, and 32 disappointed cities that were not first. 33 cities competed and hoped. Then C Spire surprised the entire state and awarded nine cities. Congratulations to the winners and to C Spire for hitting this one out of the park,” says Kagan.

The cities that won in Mississippi are Batesville, Clinton, Corinth, Hattiesburg, Horn Lake, McComb, Quitman, Ridgeland and Starkville. These winning cities will receive the 1 Gig of Fiber to the Home. These nine cities were among 33 who submitted applications to C Spire.

This will be the fastest Internet in the country. The only others that can compete are Google in Kansas City and AT&T who announced they will do the same in Austin Texas.

“Rather than deploying one city at a time, C Spire has decided to go very big and award nine cities in Mississippi to start with,” says Kagan.

C Spire Get Fiber First will bring speeds 100 times faster than the national average for broadband speeds. The finalist cities were announced during a news conference at C Spire headquarters in Ridgeland MS. Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant was at this event along with state and local officials and representatives.